GTA mayors call for handgun ban in meeting with Trudeau
Leaders told Trudeau proposed assault-rifle ban does not go far enough
Toronto-area mayors welcomed Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s plan to give municipalities the authority to ban handguns, but said the proposal doesn’t go far enough to staunch the bloodshed. Meeting with Trudeau on Tuesday in Richmond Hill, local leaders said they’d like to see a national prohibition on handguns, which the Liberal leader’s proposed assault-rifle ban has stopped short of.
“It’s ineffective unless it’s more widespread. So all of us here would have preferred to see it nationally,” said Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie.
“At this time, however, we are appreciative of the funding announcement that will go directly to help us fund guns and gangs (programs) and give us the resources that we need directly.”
Crombie said she hopes Ontario mayors will encourage Premier Doug Ford — who has said he opposes a handgun ban — to green-light municipalities’ efforts to prohibit firearms.
The Liberal gun-control plan would outlaw the semi-automatic AR-15 — a military-grade weapon used in many recent U.S. mass shootings — as well as offer a buy-back program for legally purchased assault rifles.
But it doesn’t go as far as a prohibition on pistols, something that doctors and other health professionals are also calling for.
Bill Blair, who has served as minister for border security and organized crime reduction in the Trudeau government, suggested a handgun buy-back program factored into the Liberals’ decision to hold off on a ban, estimating it would cost about $1.5 billion.
“The average price of these guns, say, would be somewhere in the neighbourhood of $1,500 — and I haven’t got the precise number on that — and then there’s a million of them,” he said.
“I think you can do the math — that’s a lot of money.”
Trudeau’s move to hand banning power to municipal governments — they will still require provincial approval — came after a campaign stop with seven mayors from the Greater Toronto Area to discuss rising gun violence, focusing on the issue for the second straight day.
All seven who lined up behind Trudeau raised their hands in support of a national ban on handguns when asked by a reporter.
Trudeau defended his decision not to ban handguns nationally, saying his plan to ban assault rifles was still better than the approach of his Conservative opponents. He accused them of weakening gun control efforts.
“We are committed to moving forward on the strongest guncontrol measures in Canadian history,” he said. “This is a significant, meaningful and historic step in the right direction.”